Zoology and Physiology

College of Arts and Sciences

Craig W. Benkman
Professor, Berry Chair

 

1985 Ph.D. Biology; State University of New York at Albany
1981 M.S. Biology; Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, Arizona
1978 B.A. Biology; University of California at Berkeley

cbenkman@uwyo.edu • (307) 399-4785 • 149 Berry Center

Research Interests:

My research interests lie within behavior, ecology, and evolution. What unites them is my belief that many interesting and important questions can only be answered with an understanding of resource availability.
Consequently, much of my research has focused on linking resource availability to various aspects of behavior, ecology, and evolution. We mostly study crossbills because we can quantify resource availability in the wild and we can bring food resources into the laboratory where we can ask meaningful questions with captive crossbills. It also allows us to combine our interests in behavior, plant and animal ecology, and evolution. One of my current projects addresses whether and how a coevolutionary arms race between crossbills and lodgepole pine is causing crossbills to speciate, and another project is evaluating the conditions favoring coevolution and the overall importance of coevolution in the adaptive radiation of crossbills.

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